Hand of the day #242
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff The old-fashioned textbooks tell you to lead k...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
As West, you see North transfer to diamonds then show short spades.
Opening Lead: ♠5
This does not deter you from leading your five-card suit against three no-trump, declarer capturing partner’s spade jack with the queen before crossing to the club queen and running the diamond 10. With a club entry remaining in dummy, there is little purpose in holding up the diamond king. Declarer surely has ace-jack-low to be playing this way, after all. You grab your king and must decide how to continue.
You can count 10 tricks for declarer so you must cash four hearts on the go, needing partner to have at least king-fourth. You plan to take your ace and queen on the first two rounds, to unblock the suit, but there is a snag. If you cash the heart ace then play the queen, partner might decide you have ace-queen doubleton along with the spade ace, when overtaking and reverting to spades would be necessary.
It is your job to remove partner’s losing option. Start with the heart queen, which partner will never overtake. You can then play ace and another heart, allowing a straightforward cashout.
A devious declarer might decide to win the first spade with the ace to convince you to continue spades rather than shift to hearts, if the diamond finesse loses. But you would not buy that here, after South’s three no-trump bid, and in any case, this attempted coup can be overcome by cashing the spade king. When East does not unblock the queen, you shift to hearts.
Bid with the Aces
Answer: 2NT
I like to show my hand-type immediately by rebidding two no-trump. Holding three-small in an unbid suit does not concern me. King-10-fifth is hardly a suit I would like to emphasize at this point in the auction. I would feel less inclined to bid two no-trump were my club three the diamond three; some would raise diamonds with that hand.
Absolutely not to raise Diamond. I agree with 2nt